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The social media network X has provoked widespread outrage after individuals utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of women by removing their attire.

Numerous cases have surfaced where the tool has been used to digitally undress female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.

Developer Response and Legal Position

XAI, the organization behind Grok, did not respond to questions, other than an standard message stating "traditional news outlets lies".

A Home Office official stated that legislation is being brought forward to outlaw nudification software. Under a new law, anyone who provided such tools would "face a jail term and substantial penalties".

"X or Grok has the ability to stop these types of misuse if they desired to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."

Oversight Body Stance and Platform Functionality

The communications watchdog Ofcom said platforms must "consider the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their platforms, but did not specify whether it was presently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated images.

Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some premium features—which answers X users' queries when they tag it in a message.

It is often used to give reactions or additional context to other users' comments, but people on X are also can alter an uploaded picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.

History of Criticism and Rules

The system has been condemned for enabling users to produce photos and clips with explicit content and sexually suggestive content, and it was earlier alleged to have been involved in generating graphic material of public figures.

"The platform has been permitting the production and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any measures and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.

XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "showing images of individuals in a pornographic fashion".

In a comment, Ofcom said it was unlawful to "create or distribute private pictures or illegal content" and confirmed this covered explicit AI images made with AI.

It said platforms such as X were obligated to take "appropriate actions" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal material on their services and to remove it promptly when they are notified of it.